Melissa MacNeal - Beyond Redemption

Billy fell upon me like a ram in rut, chasing away the wily spirit to replace Pandora's nether lips with his own wild mouth. Laughter in three different harmonies wafted around us, and I swore the bed would break with the speed and energy of my young lover's efforts. He was kissing me like a man possessed, as though the Sisters had somehow slipped inside him and were driving him toward that mindless pleasure that only came after an intense inner explosion.

His hips quivered up and down and his cock drove relentlessly into the deepest parts of me, until I screamed like a shameless hussy. A strangling sound escaped him when he shot me full of his hot semen…I welcomed more of it with each thrust of my cunt…felt myself surrendering to an extreme ecstasy that took me to the outer edge of the universe and tossed me off.

As Pandora had predicted-had commanded-I went blank and drifted in a sea of sweet oblivion.

It was the weight of a stare that woke me. Lewd caresses brought me all the way back-for in my mind, I hoped it was Billy fumbling for more, and my God how I wanted it! How I loved him with every breath I would ever take! My mind told me it was too soon for such strong, dangerous emotions-yearnings for a young man who was a disaster waiting to happen! But my heart wouldn't listen.

"Wipe that lovesick grin off your face, Andrea. Tripplehorn's gone."

Ever the woman to hit bone with her first bite-because she loved making me suffer-Perfidia stood beside my bed. Tonight she wore her gown of green brocade and an emerald choker she'd stolen from a married victim's widow. I was realizing that her change of clothes must mean- "Yes, you slept an entire day away," she continued, her imperious gaze taking in the wrecked bedclothes and my nakedness. "So it's time for you to-"

"Gone?" I cried, sitting upright so fast my head took a dizzy swoop. "What do you mean, gone? If you and Pandora-"

Her laughter rang around the little room and then stopped abruptly when she sipped through her slender cigarette holder. "How can such a smart girl be so stupid?" she mocked, spitting little puffs of smoke. "Why would we destroy such a choice morsel, when he has so many talents to taste and enjoy? Far better sport to keep stringing him along. Which is why you're going back to town to fetch him."

So Billy had escaped. For a few moments, my heart thudded in relief while I glared at her. Perfidia had no right to order me around this way! As though it were my fault Billy Tripplehorn stole away like a thief in the night. Or like a lover almost caught by the promise in a vampire's eyes.

"Forget it," I said, wrapping my rumpled robe around my nakedness. "I caught him screwing Lucy Legg in town-and she was trying to make him a daddy-so I doubt he'll come see us again. It's not like he's desperate for-"

"No, but you are," came her snide reply. "And your three benefactors-we three who have loved you all your life-have decided it's time you saw to your own happiness, dear Andrea."

She didn't mean that, of course. Perfidia, with her exotic face and pulled-back blonde hair, would always meet her own needs and then toss me her crumbs. She pressed the pointed end of her cigarette holder against the pale underside of my forearm…where the veins ran like little blue rivers. My pulse was pumping so hard, she could make quick work of me if she chose to.

"No one is indispensable," she reminded me, letting that last word hiss like a snake in my dimly-lit room. "And even your highest-minded ideals are no match for the powers Pandora, Pink, and I possess. Win him back, Andrea. Playing the martyr to your unrequited love won't save Billy Tripplehorn."

As I jerked my throbbing arm away from that damn cigarette holder, Perfidia vanished. Like a waking dreamer's nightmare, her presence-and the echo of her nasty laugh-hung about me in an invisible shroud. But I refused to be intimidated by her veiled threats! I reminded myself that I still served a purpose here with the Sisters of Samaria, preserving their sainted reputations to the folk in Redemption while providing for their privacy…and an occasional fresh morsel for their discriminating palates.

I dressed in a natty suit of navy blue with a pinstripe, donned the wig and theatrical cosmetics that made Alex Moore the man he was, and went downstairs. While I had no intention of fetching Billy, I saw no use in spending the rest of my night in the company of women who would come at me from all sides with their mental proddings and illicit wishes. If they wanted Billy so badly, they could go fetch him! I could put my time to better use in my office, clearing away the papers from some recent legal cases.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, however, I saw Pandora seated at her library table in the conservatory. By the light of a candle and a bright winter's moon, she meditated over the deck of tarot cards she held between her hands-awaiting an intuitive signal. As I watched, thinking how dreamlike and lovely she looked with the moonbeams illuminating the pale skin of her bare shoulders, she placed ten cards face-down in a pattern I recognized as a Celtic cross.

"Come in and help me read," she beckoned without looking up. "I've asked the cards what we should expect, now that we've met Billy Tripplehorn. It seemed a fresh voice was in order for this fascinating turn of events, so I'm using my pretty new deck! The colors are so fresh, it's obvious a woman painted them."

I couldn't recall the last time this house had seen anything new or fresh, save the occasional maid, so my curiosity was piqued. Pandora could manipulate the cards by sheer power of will-or she'd probably stacked the deck, knowing I was on my way-yet her readings resonated with truth too real to be ignored. Unlike the Gypsies who told fortunes in their tents, this pale goddess had unique connections to a past that spanned more than three hundred years, so it couldn't hurt to listen. I already knew she'd coax me to fetch Billy back for her, and I had my refusal ready.

"The center card represents you, Andrea," she said as she turned it over, "for you're at the heart of this affair with Billy Tripplehorn-and what an auspicious card it is! The Queen of Wands! She represents new insights and growth in a positive direction, dressed in her gown of regal yellow like the sun as she faces us with her bold determination. And it's no coincidence she has a pussy seated at her feet!"

I smiled wryly. All my life, Pandora had played the most motherly role in my upbringing; it was she who could win me with her playful magic when I balked at the others. "And our next card is-the Queen of Cups," I announced, not at all surprised. "She favors you, gazing into that royal cup of her creativity and imagination, wearing a gown of tranquil blue."

"Truly the queen of love and matters of the heart-in a position of positive influence," the raven-haired mystic agreed. "And next, The Lovers! A card of the Major Arcana indicating that the attraction between you and Billy is beyond our control-destined by a higher power! No wonder you fell for him so fast! He was a magnificent first lover, dear."

Feeling my cheeks flush, I reached over her shoulder to turn the next card. "The Empress, symbol of fertility and abundance. With long blonde hair…perhaps pregnant." The picture brought Lucy Legg to mind, and she was looking right at me, as though challenging me with her scepter.

Pandora shrugged after a moment. "If she represents someone we know, she's in a position indicating things that have passed away-things that concern you no more. And next, indicating potential conditions in the present, the Queen of Swords, reversed. A woman of sharp mind and keen intellect, but a bitch when you turn her upside down! Bears watching, that one. She can use her powers and strength of will to plunge her sword through your heart!"